Pressure builds for scrapping of religion ministry

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Calls are mounting for the government to revamp or scrap altogether the Ministry of Religious Affairs following a recent proposal to establish a joint religion office to promote interfaith harmony.

Critics say the ministry has strayed from its core mission as a center of ethics and morality, which should take the lead in fostering close relations between followers of different religions.

"The ministry has become the focus for a power struggle between political parties, and, as a consequence, religion is the victim," said Komaruddin Hidayat, a professor at Jakarta State Islamic University (UIN).

Ulil Abshar Abdalla, from the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), also threw his weight behind the call, in the full knowledge that many Muslim groups were competing for jobs in the ministry.

"The ministry appears to be a source of political pride for many Muslims," Ulil said without elaborating.

Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid had sought to scrap the ministry in 1999, arguing that the government should not intervene in religious affairs as Indonesia was not an Islamic state.

However, he canceled the proposal after it drew strong resistance from many circles, including leaders from his own Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization.

Earlier last week, leaders of different religious organizations, along with the House of Representatives, called for the establishment of a joint secretariat to foster religious ties.

Scholars said the joint religion office would be effective if it was set up independently by organizations of different religions, with the government merely acting as facilitator.

In the long run, the proposed office could take over the responsibilities of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in promoting interfaith unity.

Komaruddin said the call for such a joint religion office reflected people's frustration over the ministry's failure to bring peace to Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and others.

However, he warned that scrapping the ministry would bring short-term "pragmatic" problems that the government and some Muslim groups had to face.

"I supported the idea of Gus Dur to dissolve the Ministry of Religious Affairs because it was not needed, but it has been too difficult to put into practice," said Komaruddin.

He added that what the government could do in practice would be to review soon the ministry's existence and activities.

"It should be revamped to become a state office dealing with religious affairs, with a limited number of officials," said the noted Muslim scholar, who resigned several months ago as the ministry's director general of state Islamic colleges.

He said that with sweeping reforms the ministry would be able "to enlighten the public and provide general policies" on how to improve ties between followers of diverse religions.

Ulil said the restructuring should include replacing many of the ministry's officials who had "conservative perspectives" on religion.

A similar view was shared by NU leader Solahuddin Wahid, who is Gus Dur's younger brother. He hoped the move would prompt the ministry to cease its engagement in operational matters.

"It is impossible to scrap the ministry, but to restructure it is quite feasible," Solahuddin added.

He and Komaruddin suggested that management of the haj pilgrimage be handed over to the private sector and of Islamic education to the Ministry of National Education.

UIN Rector Azyumardi Azra said the reforms should cover the ministry's existence, its poor human resources, vision and mission in facilitating interfaith dialog.

"The Ministry of Religious Affairs should free itself of responsibility for technical matters and produce broad-minded concepts to improve relations between religions," he added.